The Alumni Association Remembers Edward Blacksheare

Left - Mr. Blacksheare at SCPS School Board in 2019 after the naming of the SHS 9th Grade Campus as the Edward L. Blacksheare Campus. Right - young Mr. Blacksheare

The Crooms AoIT Alumni Association joins our broader Crooms AoIT community in remembering Mr. Edward Blacksheare who passed away this week at the age of 94.

Mr. Blacksheare was a legend in the Sanford community and served as the principal of Crooms High School from 1964 to 1984 - including during the years of desegregation. He was born in Sanford, Florida and graduated from Crooms Academy himself in 1943 and then graduated from Morehouse College in 1947. He began his career at Oviedo High School and received his master degree from Atlanta University in 1959. He became the assistant principal of Crooms in 1960 prior to becoming a principal in 1964. Mr. Blacksheare would serve as a principal in SCPS for 21 years and would later work at the District Office prior to retiring after 43 years in education.

Mr. Blacksheare also helped start an adjunct campus for Bethune-Cookman University in Sanford and participated in the Seminole County chapter of the NAACP. He is also well known in Sanford for his work at Seminole High School (SHS) where he help found the Young Men of Excellence program. The Young Men of Excellence helps foster success among African American students through mentorship. Mr. Blacksheare began mentoring SHS students in the 1970s and 1980s prior to the Young Men of Excellence program being formally established.

Through his life Mr. Blacksheare was a mentor to dozens, if not hundreds, of young men and women. In fact, the Honorable US House Representative Alcee L. Hastings recognized Mr. Blacksheare's contributions in the U.S. Congressional Record in 2010.

Mr. Backsheare's was a true community leader and he has a long list of accomplishments, including:

• Being an alumni of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity
• Serving as Chairman of the Seminole County Port Authority
• Serving as Chairman of the Sanford Housing Authority
• Serving as a member of the City of Sanford Planning and Zoning Board
• Being a Trustee for Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church
• Founding numerous scholarship and grant programs for high school and college students
• Routinely sponsoring trips and travels for the Crooms AoIT Alumni Association's Business Professionals of America chapter

In 2010 the Crooms Academy Alumni Association recognized Mr. Blacksheare with the "Legacy of Hope and Love Banquet". He was also named the "Man of the Decade" by Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity's Orlando Chapter in 2010. In 2018, SCPS recognized him by naming the Ninth Grade Center at Seminole High School in his honor, the Edward L. Blacksheare Campus. In January of this year, the Goldsboro Front Porch Council honored Mr. Blacksheare with their Legacy Award.

We are all indebted to the legacy of Mr. Blacksheare and we offer our greatest condolences to his friends, family, and the Crooms and Sanford communities.